Calendar of Events

YMCA World Challenge

The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) is hosting under the patronage of UNESCO a World-wide Challenge to tell the YMCA story by mobilizing 5 million people on one day: one day to show communities and the world how the YMCA is empowering young people and transforming communities, using culture, sports, education, exchange programs, spiritual development and many other tools and activities.

The YMCA World Challenge aims at mobilizing millions of people during a big celebration of the worldwide work of the YMCA to empower youth through its change model of space, transformation and impact.

The event will take place in thousands of local communities across five continents and will include a global basketball shoot out. The YMCA shall set a new world record of people throwing basketballs in the occasion of this event.

Community activities such as sports, recreation, concerts, festivals, photo exhibitions and many others will mobilize large numbers of people for a different day with a lot of joy and creativity through the common element of a basketball shoot out. Invented in the YMCA in 1890, basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world and it has been used as a tool to empower people and promote a healthy life style.

The event starts 8h00, local time in New Zealand, and ends in Hawaii 00h00 following the time zone progression. Various communities and cultures will be connected by live broadcasting and other forms of social media during the day. The events will be open to everyone (individuals and families).